Season Seven also featured a new wrinkle: the rebuy period was extended until the final table formed. Season Seven also debuted the attempt to start on time, keep breaks tight and not pause the clock for any reason.
Three regulars were unable to make the Labor Day weekend event, and subs were found to fill two of the seats. On the morning of the event, John's plans changed and he reserved the final seat. At 7:00 sharp, cards flew with all 20 seats filled. There was one T75k stack, six standard T100k stacks, seven T125k stacks, and six T150k stacks. The bigger buyins (and subsequently bigger rebuys) swelled the prize pool; the average buyin was $48, but the prizes could not be calculated until the rebuy period ended. Interestingly in Event 1, 60% rebuys were mega-T150k stacks.
Keith was the first man standing. He started the night on the short stack with T75k and never made any huge strides forward. When his stack got low enough, he pushed all in blind, hoping to pick up the antes. Instead, Nick called, Eric went all in over the top and John called; when it came back around, Nick folded to the raise. After all the bets were in, the hands were revealed and Keith's blind bet turned out to be A-7. But neither John nor Keith could better Eric's hand. The win put a small dent in John's growing stack and sent Keith home in 20th place. And while other players were chasing first place with big stacks (and big rebuys), Keith's small stack-no rebuy approach netted him enough points to climb to 14th place, despite finishing dead last.
Sub Erik M. was the first out at the red table, going down in 19th place. Holding A-8, Erik got it all in preflop with Kevin (J-J) and Kevin's pocket pair held.
Back the the blue table, Jason Ta. pushed his stack in holding A-6 and Anita called for less holding T-T. With an ace on the flop, Jason took the lead and Anita never caught up, exiting in 18th place. Action continued and as players were knocked out, they rebought. Still at the blue table, Chris S. pushed all in holding 6-6, causing folds until it got the Eric in the big blind. After counting out his stack and confirming he had the bet covered, he called holding Q-Q (the "Ardmore Girls"). The board brought no help and Chris was eliminated in 17th place. Angie was out in 16th place, being unable to grow her standard starting stack.
Jim O. was all in at the blue table while three players were involved in an all-in pot at the red table. Despite the request to pause, the clock marched on. The blue table hand finished first, and Jim O. was eliminated in 15th place. Meanwhile at the red table, Sean had gone all in for 41,500 holding A-Q; he got two calls from Tom and Jason Tr., both of whom had Sean covered. The flop came out 8-8-4 and Jason pushed his last 80,000 in the middle. Tom called and revealed Q-Q (once again, the "Ardmore Girls) while Jason showed 7-7. Tom's girls held up and he notched two eliminations and a nearly 300k-chip pot.
Eliminations moved after that, with both tables playing 6-handed. Marc was eliminated in 12th place before Bill decided to put John and his big-stack to the test. Bill flopped top pair and pushed all in; John insta-called holding a gut-shot straight draw and a nut flush draw. Death came slowly for Bill as the dealer peeled off the Qh on the river to give John a winning flush and an enormous stack of chips.
Five-handed play continued until Mike M. wound up on the bad side of A-2 v J-3 suited. The final table formed as the remaining 9 players randomly selected their seats. After Final Table Showdown cards were drawn, the rebuy period ended and the prize pool locked at a whopping $550 for first place. The final table formed at a reasonable time, about 11:00 PM. Moving from two short-handed tables to one full table of 9 was a welcome change to the short stacks and the pace of eliminations slowed somewhat. Lolly exited the final table first in 9th place, followed by Jason Ta. in 8th. After Nick and Chris B. were both eliminated, the money bubble formed. The next player out would go home empty handed. That player turned out to be Tom who made a sold run as an Event 1 sub.
At the start of the night, Fran wasn't sure if he would be able to stay for the tournament, as he was monitoring a work commitment. But he came from behind a few times and managed to stay in long enough and ride his stack to a 4th place finish, taking home $140 in the process.
As three handed play began, Kevin and John both had large stacks and Eric was holding on to a medium stack. And after being dealt A-Q, John seemed determined to pick up a good chunk of Kevin's chips. Unbeknownst to John, however, Kevin also held a monster. Kevin bet the flop and John pushed all in. Kevin quickly called and showed K-K, deflating John. Kevin's kings held and John was eliminated in 3rd place.
Heads up, Kevin held approximately a 2:1 chip lead over Eric. A few hands in, Kevin made top pair on the flop holding a weak queen; Eric checked to him and Kevin offered to chop first place before putting Eric all-in. The deal was agreed to and the hands were revealed. Eric also held a weak queen and although Kevin's quicker was slightly better, the board came out such that neither kicker played and the pot was chopped. A few hands later, the final hand would be dealt.
The pot was raised preflop and Kevin played his hand softly, allowing Eric to take the aggressive role after hitting bottom pair on the flop. When Eric shoves, Kevin called quickly, showing A-T for top two. The river unnecessarily improved Kevin's hand to a boat, and he took home first place.
The win was Kevin's first cash since Season Five, and his first win since 2010.
Congrats to Kevin for a dominant heads-up performance and thanks to everyone who participated in Event 1.
~Eric W.
